Blackhawk went into the playoffs as the only undefeated team in the WPIAL and appeared to have an easy semifinal draw with Elizabeth Forward.

After all, these were the Warriors that had trouble with undermanned West Mifflin, nearly lost to a sub.-500 Ringgold team and was summarily drubbed by South Park in their final regular-season game.

But the Cougars are no longer undefeated, and the Warriors earned an opportunity to play for their first WPIAL Class AAA title since 1975 as fifth-seeded Elizabeth Forward (23-2) pulled off a 78-64 playoff upset of No. 1 Blackhawk (24-1) at West Allegheny.

“We just kept telling ourselves that we had nothing to lose and they had everything to lose because they were undefeated, and we wanted it,” Elizabeth Forward guard Alison Pastore said. “We wanted it more than anything, and we played our hearts out.”

Pastore led Elizabeth Forward with 23 points, but it may have been more what she and fellow guards Macy Pekala, Kylie Owoc and Abigail Sporio did when they didn't have the ball that had the greatest impact on the outcome. The Warriors' defense made Blackhawk sophomore Chassidy Omogrosso, a Pitt recruit, into little more than a designated free-throw shooter. They limited her to two 3-pointers and 10 of 14 from the line.

“There hasn't been anybody that's been able to do that this year, and their point guard (Pekala) was a lot quicker than we thought,” Blackhawk coach Steve Lodovico said. “They did a great job of sticking Chas … but I feel bad that it had to happen.”

With Omogrosso relegated to the occasional dribble-penetration and a few trips to the line, Elizabeth Forward was able to do something no team had been able to do all season — force Blackhawk to play from behind from the opening tip. The Cougars still cycled the ball well up top but were rarely able to penetrate inside and were forced to take contested shots from the perimeter.

“We were just going to watch the guards and switch on every pick so we weren't going to try to fight through the pick. If they penetrate, we wanted to have one big (girl) in there,” Elizabeth Forward coach Sam Kosanovich said. “Sometimes they did penetrate and made a dump-off pass and we didn't do well with that, but our guards did an outstanding job on their guards and harassed them all over the floor.”

Instead of imposing their will upon an opponent, the Cougars were in chase mode throughout the game. Elizabeth Forward jumped out to a 4-0 lead on baskets by Dana Buck ( 14 points, 10 rebounds) and Pastore in the first 44 seconds. The Warriors never trailed.

“A couple times we lost our composure and took some shots that weren't really there,” Lodovico said. “Like I said, we never played from behind, so we started forcing some stuff. We're usually a patient team, but (in this one) we weren't.”

Elizabeth Forward wasn't patient, either, but despite pushing the play at almost every turn the Warriors were able to extend their lead to 39-29 at halftime thanks to a blistering 15 of 27 (55.6 percent) shooting performance from the field in the first half. One of the major reasons was the hot shooting of forward Natalie Fekula, who scored 17 of her 20 in the first half.

Still, though the Warriors won't play until 3 p.m. Saturday, they have an intimate knowledge of their opponent and the motivation to prepare them for their date at Palumbo Center. Most importantly, Elizabeth Forward will have an opportunity to avenge its only loss to a WPIAL team: It will take on third-seeded South Park (22-2), which delivered a 75-55 pounding to defending champion Hopewell in the other semifinal.

“That loss — I think we just need to throw it behind us because we're a different team,” Fekula said. “I think we've reached our high point and maybe there's more to come, and hopefully that can take us through to be champions.”

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Print Source

Welcome to PrintSource, a division of Trib Total Media.

We have established a veteran team that provides daily and weekly newspaper companies with a comprehensive set of services that include design, print, packaging and delivery of their products, all from one source and location.

Gone are the days when each facet of newspaper printing and delivery had to be outsourced to different companies and venues. Now, PrintSource provides a viable solution with just one phone call.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.